Friday, March 8, 2013

Three tabligh arrested on hartal 07.03.2013: Personal accounts

This is a personal account of events that have occurred in a vicinity of Dhaka on the 7th of March 2013. I am writing details of this incident based on eyewitness accounts that have relayed to me details of this incident. Witnesses say that at around 1:30 pm on Wednesday afternoon, a procession of the opposition was scheduled to be held at Pallabi. The exact premises of the protest was identified to be the area adjacent to the Boro Masjid at Mirpur 11, in an area to the Mirpur 11 Bazaar situated near Millat Camp at Pallabi. The sources confirm that the procession started at around 1:30 after Salatul Zuhr. It was led by the local opposition Jamaat-e-Islami Pallabi Naib-e-ameer and the number of protesters numbered at around 150-200 people. The procession chanted slogans in favour of the hartal or national strike called by the opposition in Bangladesh against the 'genocide' enacted by the government. Protesters who did not want to be named said that as the procession neared the 11 no. bazaar corner two blocks away from the Boro Masjid, sources sympathetic to the protesters called them in to know that security forces were on their way to apprehend the protesters with the intent to disperse the procession and arrest the protesters. As the police arrived on the scene, the protest procession quickly ended and the protesters dispersed quickly from the spot. Even though the police tried to arrest protesters on the spot, witnesses say that they were not able to nab any. The police then went towards the Boro Masjid and combed the surrounding area for any opposition activists. They then arrested three persons in connection with the incident. from the premises of the mosque. Police say they are opposition activists who had participated in the procession. Witnesses at the scene of the arrests say otherwise. They say that the arrested were in no way connected with the protests. Rather they say that the three were part of the Tabligh Jamaat who had come to the mosque as part of a Jamaat touring the mosque. It has been learned that the incident has led to escalation of tensions in Mirpur 11 no. Bazaar area area since Wednesday.